Why people are being paid to remove spiders, stand in queues and take out rubbish bins

Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O’Neil said services like Airtasker replaced secure employment with “completely unreliable insecure work” that shifts the responsibilities normally held by an employer onto the employees.

“Airtasker and others hide behind the veil of so-called ‘independent contractors’ who in reality are often neither,” she said. “Our laws need to change to protect working people in this under-regulated area of the economy.”

Fung said the skills shortage had led to higher pay for workers who were able to determine the scope and price of tasks: “For example, if Taskers are doing pick up and deliver tasks, they can base the cost of their task around the cost of petrol for that day.”

Bissell said task-based gig workers were not paid benefits such as sick pay, holiday pay and superannuation.

“In spite of an increase, the rates of pay for workers on these platforms are still very poor because the rate of pay is only part of what makes a good job,” he said.

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Interviews with these workers for the Gig Cities project also revealed many aspects of this type of work were unpaid such as bidding for work, travel to jobs and materials and transport, Bissell said. “These kinds of task-based platforms are often seen as being a race to the bottom in terms of encouraging people to accept low payments in order to secure the job.”

Fung agreed there were issues about the gig economy that needed to be addressed. But he said 69 per cent of Airtasker customers do not choose the cheapest price: “Interestingly, we don’t see a race to the bottom of undercutting of wages at all.”

Guilherme Coracini started taking delivery, removalist and handyman jobs such as assembling and disassembling furniture in 2021 after losing “my other normal jobs”.

Coracini earns more than $9000 a month and said it was possible to “make some good money if you have the skills to do it”.

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“The demand is not always high but the number of professionals offering has increased a lot compared to when I first started over a year ago during COVID,” he said.

Bissell said many people working for task-based platforms were often overqualified for the work but wanted to supplement their income.

Bissell said retirees took on task-based work for social contact and to keep busy, while other people were taking time off from their usual work “such as teachers who experienced burnout”.

“What was particularly interesting is that many people who did task-based work were ashamed to admit to friends and family that they were doing it as doing gig economy work can be quite stigmatising,” he said.

Larry Adams has a full-time job as a sign maker, but has picked up tasks such as clearing out an attic, assembling furniture, hanging paintings “and one time I dismantled a bloke’s old shed”.

“One lady just needed her building’s bins taken out and brought back two days later because she was on holiday – the easiest 25 bucks I’ve ever made,” he said.

Adams said he took on tasks to generate extra income for unexpected bills, vehicle repairs and holidays.

“The good thing is you can discuss the job and adjust the offer before the job gets locked in,” he said. “Some of them paid me surprisingly well.”

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